The Great Gatsby Light Analysis

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“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us,” (Fitzgerald, 180) may have been what killed Gatsby, the title character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The novel is told from the first-person narrative of Nick Carraway, who has recently moved from the midwest to Long Island, New York, during the roaring twenties, where he then meets the mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby, who is in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy. Daisy lives in East Egg, where her house is lit up by “green light” through the fog, which is in clear sight to Gatsby, who lives across the pond in West Egg. This is one of the most significant uses of light that Fitzgerald uses throughout the book, as well as his further …show more content…
One instance is when Nick is leaving the first party of Gatsby’s that he attended and describes the setting of Gatsby’s house saying, “A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby’s house, making the night as fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden,” (Fitzgerald, 55). Nick’s description of the scenery of the party’s end shows his fascination with Gatsby and his mysterious private life as well as his admiration of Gatsby, which is further expressed through light is his description of dawn, shortly after arguments between characters took place, revealing his positive outlook and idealism. Nick yet again displays this by detailing a new setting after Gatsby and Nick left the hotel after tense arguements between them, Tom, and Daisy. He then elaborates on Daisy’s and Gatsby’s romantic past, before saying, “It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows downstairs, filling the house with gray-turning, gold turning light,” (152). Fitzgerald’s description of light in this passage helps make the image of the morning after sunrise symbolize a fresh start through a new day. Nick’s description of the house filled with light shows his optimism and hope for the following day and the …show more content…
This can be shown when Nick explains the car accident and its aftermath that killed Myrtle, as well as the public’s reaction to the accident, stating, “The ‘death car’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of a gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, then disappeared around the next bend,” (137). The specific mention of the absence of light displays Nick’s growing disillusionment of ‘New York’ lifestyles that he is surrounded by, as he witnesses consequences of wreckless actions, such as Daisy driving while hysterically sobbing and Gatsby letting her. An absence of light is also drawn upon when Nick analyzes Gatsby’s conversation about Daisy’s green light that gives an idea of where her house is across the pond while it’s misty and dark. It’s here that Gatsby’s fear of no longer seeing light, but not darkness is expressed, saying, “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished forever,” (93). This aids in displaying Gatsby’s fear of losing Daisy and denial of her and Tom’s relationship. Nick and mentions the significance that the green light that is often blocked by mist, which prevents Gatsby from seeing the the Buchanan’s house across
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